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Colsaerts delighted with "flawless" performance
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Colsaerts delighted with "flawless" performance

Nicolas Colsaerts fired an excellent bogey-free 67 on day one of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and then declared he could have gone considerably lower.

Nicolas Colsaerts

The big-hitting Belgian registered five birdies - one courtesy of a stunning approach to the last - to sit just a shot behind leader Lee Westwood at five under as he looks to improve on his 39th position in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.

Colsaerts' lowest round of the season was a 63 at the Portugal Masters and he felt he could have fired close to that again on a day when Jumeirah Golf Estates gave as good as it got.

"You know what? I left a lot of them out there," he said. "This could have been a really low one. This could have been eight or nine, easy.

"I missed short ones on my early holes on the back nine but I was pretty happy with the display. I didn't really hit that many bad shots. The ones where I could go at pins turned out to be very close. It was just a flawless round of golf.

"When you play that well, you want to squeeze every shot you can out of it but I'm happy with the way I played and I'm confident I can keep rolling like this."

Frenchman Julien Quesne was also five under after a rollercoaster of a round containing just seven pars, and he felt he was getting to grips with the Earth Course as he made four birdies in his last five holes.

"I made a lucky birdie on the 14th, just a recovery shot and the ball finished three metres from the flag. I was hoping to have a par and made a birdie here, so it was good. I made a two-metre putt on 17 and a two-metre putt on 18, so my putting was good today.

It was just a flawless round of golf - Nicolas Colsaerts

"I'm here for the third time, so I'm quite happy about that."

Francesco Molinari was a further shot back after a 68 as he looks to continue his excellent record in this event.

The Italian Open champion has three top tens in the season finale - including finishing fourth last year -  and he is hopeful course knowledge can propel him forward over the next three days.

"I enjoy coming back here every year," he said. "It's a course that I like. There are obviously good memories when you're out there on the course. I'm looking forward to the next three days."

If I keep playing like this, I like my chances - Sergio Garcia

Sergio Garcia had held the lead when he rolled in a lengthy putt for eagle on the 14th but he put his ball in the water on the 16th to fall back to four under.

Despite that setback, he was happy with his opening effort and is confident he can go on and claim a first European Tour win for over two years.

"If I keep playing like this, I like my chances," he said. "I felt like my game was on in pretty much everything that I was doing. We've got to keep going the same way for the next three days."

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